Pranab Mukherjee to visit Iran, push for IPI project

New Delhi, Jun 14: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will visit Tehran on July 29-30 to push for the 7.4 US billion dollars Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and attend the India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting to be held after a gap of three years.

Sources said Mr Mukherjee will also hold discussions with top Iranian leaders on regional and international developments. However, the IPI is likely to dominate the talks. They said during the visit, the External Affairs Minister is also likely to attend the 15th Inter-Summit Ministerial Conference of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran. At the Joint Commission Meeting, the two sides will deliberate on political, economic and cultural aspects of Indo-Iranian relations. The focus is likely to be on energy cooperation, the sources added.

An 11-member Indian delegation was recently in Tehran to set the ground for the Joint Commission Meeting.